CAIRO -- An Egyptian court has ordered the government to ban
pornographic Internet websites in order to protect society and its
values.
The decision and a similar initiative in parliament has fed into
fears by liberal and secular Egyptians that their country is moving down
the path to fundamentalist Islam, following a sweeping victory by
Islamists in parliamentary elections.
The ruling Wednesday came from a lower court and can be
appealed. Three years ago a court made a similar ruling, but it was not
enforced because at the time, officials argued filtering systems were
not effective.
Human rights activists criticized the latest ruling and warned it was
a violation of freedom of information in an already conservative
society.
The pornographic website issue recently underlined the Islamist
domination of parliament, when an ultraconservative lawmaker presented a
query asking the government to ban pornographic websites because they
endangered the morality of the country's youth. The lawmaker asked the
government to introduce legislation banning sites that promote
corruption and immorality.
Internet specialists said trying to ban pornography with a court
ruling or legislation is ineffective. The use of parental controls is
considered a more common way to curb access of minors to offensive
content.
"It is very hard to implement and is ... a waste of resources," said
lawyer Soha Abdel-Attie of the Egyptian Initiative for Human Rights. She
said it was not clear if the new court order builds on the previous
case or was a new ban.
Others said the ban is a violation of freedom of expression and
information and could be followed by other steps to censor dissidents.
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